Is glass reflection more important then we thought?

[a.t.t.r]

While messing around with my xr15 trying to eliminate some shadows I realized as I moved it to the back of the tank the caves in the front became brighter.

It hit me that i was decreasing the angle the light was hitting front glass creating a reflection that was more perpendicular to the glass illuminating the caves.

I am wondering if any one has experience using this matter as a way to fight the self shading caused by the LED lights? It seems counter intuitive but by lowering the light it seems you would be increasing the reflected light off the glass by lowering the angle at which the light hits and create less shadowing.


I am Kinda just rambling as I debate getting a second xr15 for my 20 gallon tank and make each one only illuminate a 12x12 area (3-5 inches or so off water)

 

[Garia666]

 

[a.t.t.r]

yeah it obviously reflects but this is a question of if lowering the light creating less direct spread/making hotspots can end up being more beneficial because of lowering the angle atwhich it is hitting (example in the video they hit at 45 degrees so it ends up prettymuch being useless as a reflection as it will just hit the bottom of the tank by the time it reached back to the center of the tank)

 

[afrokobe]

While messing around with my xr15 trying to eliminate some shadows I realized as I moved it to the back of the tank the caves in the front became brighter.

It hit me that i was decreasing the angle the light was hitting front glass creating a reflection that was more perpendicular to the glass illuminating the caves.

I am wondering if any one has experience using this matter as a way to fight the self shading caused by the LED lights? It seems counter intuitive but by lowering the light it seems you would be increasing the reflected light off the glass by lowering the angle at which the light hits and create less shadowing.


I am Kinda just rambling as I debate getting a second xr15 for my 20 gallon tank and make each one only illuminate a 12x12 area (3-5 inches or so off water)

I going to add the reefbrite xho kit to my a360x to eliminate shadowing. You should look into that instead of getting another xr15 for 20 gallons. that seems like overkill

 

[oreo54]

THANKS.. The painting thing has been known (but not "popular") for years.
Originally seen in t5's.
Thing is nobody tested "colors" since black or deep blue were the defacto colors..

One thing though.. You can use say black paper a long as have an air gap between the paper and glass..
As soon as you eliminate that , like with those wet stick on type material you have the same issue..

 

[oreo54]

yeah it obviously reflects but this is a question of if lowering the light creating less direct spread/making hotspots can end up being more beneficial because of lowering the angle atwhich it is hitting (example in the video they hit at 45 degrees so it ends up prettymuch being useless as a reflection as it will just hit the bottom of the tank by the time it reached back to the center of the tank)

It's all pool table math till you get to the critical angle where most light will then pass through and refract over being reflected.
It's complicated and I'm not going to pretend on knowing it "exactly".

Physics Tutorial - Refraction and Lenses - Total Internal Reflection - The Critical Angle

www.physicsclassroom.com

For the crown glass-water boundary, the critical angle is 61.0-degrees. The actual value of the critical angle is dependent upon the combination of materials present on each side of the boundary.